Armenian assistance to Turkey
Armenian assistance to Turkey
The Armenian authorities and the opposition are at odds over sending humanitarian aid to Turkey. The ruling party believes it to be a humanitarian step, but the parliamentary opposition says that Turkey’s policy towards Armenia and assistance fro Armenia are “incompatible.”
On February 11 the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry officially announced that trucks with humanitarian aid “crossed the Margara bridge on the border and headed for the area affected by the earthquake.” This bridge has not been used for more than thirty years, as there are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and the border is closed.
More than 36,000 people died as a result of the devastating earthquake that occurred on February 6 in Turkey and northwestern Syria. The Prime Minister of Armenia expressed condolences and support to both “friendly Syria and neighboring Turkey.” Humanitarian aid was sent to both countries. About three dozen Armenian rescuers are on site helping their Syrian and Turkish colleagues clear the rubble.
Armenia’s chief commissioner for diaspora affairs said at least thirteen Armenians were killed in the earthquake.
Lives saved and help from Yerevan
For six days now a group of Armenian rescuers (27 people), together with international partners, has been participating in search and rescue operations in Syria and Turkey.
“As a result of large-scale work, Armenian rescuers, together with a US search group, found 3 victims in the collapsed areas of the city of Adiyaman [Turkey] and pulled them out from under the rubble,” the Armenian Interior Ministry’s rescue service reported.
Earlier it was reported that 100 tons of humanitarian aid was sent to the disaster zone along the shortest road connecting Armenia with Turkey, the Margara bridge.
Turkish Special Representative Serdar Kılıç thanked his Armenian partner in the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations Ruben Rubinyan for his “generous help”. EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar also touched on this on his Twitter, where he wrote that “in the face of such a great tragedy, it is heartening to see the support given by neighboring Armenia and the positive response that followed.”
“Neighbors should help each other in times of trouble”
This is the opinion of the vice-speaker of the National Assembly and special representative of Armenia in the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Ruben Rubinyan.
He stressed that sending humanitarian aid to Turkey “is the right, normal and humanitarian step.”
“Over the past 100 years, Armenian-Turkish relations have been very difficult, there have been many problems. In any case, we are now dealing with a humanitarian catastrophe. And regardless of what relations between Armenia and Turkey are now, what relations were and what events took place in the past, the fact is that our states are neighbors. And neighbors should help each other during natural disasters,” he said.
Rubinyan recalled that Armenia sent rescue teams to Turkey during the 1999 Izmir earthquake:
“If we really want peace and stability in the region, then we must do this. Naturally, expecting that there will be positive steps from other sides as well. But the main thing is the humanitarian issue. There was a catastrophe, and Armenians also suffered from the earthquake in both Syria and Turkey.”
Armenian assistance to Turkey
“It doesn’t fit the logic of the situation”
Tigran Abrahamyan, an MP from the opposition faction “I have the Honor,” disagrees. Explaining his position, he recalls the 44-day war of 2020 and the subsequent steps of Azerbaijani and Turkey:
“I would understand the government of the Republic of Armenia if it expressed condolences in some dry text. However, the Armenian authorities express support for Turkey even at the highest level, they even send humanitarian cargo.”
“Positive momentum for ongoing negotiations”
Deputy from the ruling Civil Contract faction and chairman of the parliamentary commission on international relations Sargis Khandanyan said that Armenia, as a member of the international community, should have responded to the disaster and offered assistance. According to him, Yerevan’s goal was to respond to the natural disaster. He considers the sending of humanitarian aid “a positive impetus for the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Turkey”:
“It is difficult to talk about positive impulses in the face of a natural disaster of this magnitude, however, we see that if you wish, you can open the border, exploit communications. And let’s hope that the Turkish government will be more supportive of this process.”
Opposition deputies, however, do not believe that the humanitarian aid sent by Armenia or support expressed will be considered by Turkey in building relations.
During a phone conversation between Pashinyan and Erdogan on February 7, the latter thanked Pashinyan for his support. He said that the Turkish government highly appreciates Armenia’s support “in terms of deepening further dialogue between the two countries.”
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Armenian assistance to Turkey
